So, Barack Hussein Obama will be our next President. I can’t say how proud I am that our country elected this person to its highest office. Here are a couple of eloquent people, saying the things I would say if I only had their skill with words:
Now for something a little less jubilant…
My lovely wife teaches in La Vega Independent School District, which serves the city of Bellmead. Her school, La Vega Intermediate School H. P. Miles Campus, was built in 1963, and is in horrible, horrible shape. It desperately needs to be renovated or rebuilt entirely, but nobody appears to really care.
-The 2000 census shows Bellmead’s population at 9,214. 29.5% were under 18 years of age, leaving 6,496 voting-age residents. Last night, just 1210 votes were cast for four school-related issuesless than 19% of the voting population of the city.-
Correction: The 2004 General Election results for Bellmead indicate that there were 4,847 registered voters. That means that 25% of the electorate turned up to vote yesterday. That’s a pitifully low number, but it positively dwarfs the 212 individuals (4.4%) who voted in 2004. By comparison, 59% of McLennan county registered voters participated in the 2008 election.
All four ballot issues were voted down.
- Bellmead won’t be building a new athletic facility.
- Bellmead won’t be building a new administrative building.
- Bellmead won’t be building a new intermediate school.
- Bellmead won’t be increasing taxes to pay for teacher raises or expanded school programs and services.
Finally, gay rights activists didn’t fare very well across the country, either. State amendments to ban gay marriage were passed in Arizona and Florida, and Arkansas voters approved a measure banning adoption or foster care by unmarried parents (backers of the measure made it clear that they were targeting homosexual couples).
So, here’s my analysis: The racial barrier has been broken. Children raised in low-income cities (and the teachers who essentially raise them) continue to suffer due to voter apathy and ignorance. We still discriminate against people based on what they do in their own bedrooms.
We have a long way to go.